The Difference Is.....I Make 30 Look Good

Darwin, Australia
Friday, September 17th and Saturday September 18th, 2010

Yes, I turned 30 (but if you ask mom......I'm only 25.....and I'm ok with that too) and I did it with pure class and style (at least I think so)......with a lot of help from Debi and Scott. I got to celebrate an entire birthday weekend, and not just because a birthday this big deserves a weekend but also because with the time change and being on the other side of the world.....it actually made sense to celebrate twice. The first time would be Friday (the 17th in Australia) and the second would be Saturday (the 17th in Canada).

The whole weekend was planned for me. I didn't have to do much at all except enjoy it. Debi put in a lot of effort and planning and well between her and Scott they put in a lot of work to make my 30th the best birthday ever.

To start out Debi created a list for me, "30 Things Just for You". This was a list of 30 things that would happen over the 2 day birthday celebration. Now this wasn't a scavenger hunt. Most of the time I didn't know what was happening until it happened. Debi had all kinds of things organized like friends and family calling me at certain times (so everyone wouldn't be attempting to call me at the same time), and a bubble bath, and flowers and cake and drinks and food and pedicures and well just a good time. #1 on the list...birthday hugs. One of my favourites was #9: A dish of yummy ice cream. This involved me walking into one of the local ice cream shops, saying "Hi I'm Julie, it's my birthday" and the result was me getting ice cream and flowers. How fun right?

Here are some pictures from the weekend.

#15. More Champagne. Me attempting pop the cork. Didn't quite make it to the road below by I assure you by the end of the weekend I was an expert.

#11. Pedicure with your sister. We are showing off our toes here. It was a great way to spend the afternoon and our toes looked so good afterwards. And not that I'm rubbing it in but I am sure you all notice how much more tanned I am than Debi.

#12. Kiss from a crocodile. This is Croco...the newest addition to the family and one of the presents I got to open.

#14. Chocolate cupcakes. YUMMY!!!

No, you can't actually blow out a sparkler but it still makes a good photo.

Once we had eaten some cake and looked as pretty as can be Debi, Scott and I headed out for #16: Dancing at a place of your choice. So we made our way to Darwin's CBD (that's like their downtown core) and found a place for some drinks. Wisdom was our first stop....but we didn't like the music so much so we headed down the street to Shenanigans (an "Irish" pub) where the music and the atmosphere suited my birthday mood much more.

See how pretty we look!!!

How lucky is Scott that he gets to hang out with the two of us all the time?

No, I don't know who this is but he was in the celebratory spirit so here he is.

Fabulously 30!!!!!

Saturday morning....well eventually we all got up and finished #20 on the list (hung over breakfast......mmmmmmm......bacon really does cure all). And then we did #21 on the list (Saturday drive/adventure). Well actually it turned into a walk because none of us had the energy to do much else.....and we got a really late start. So we made the short walk down the hill to the wave park right next to The Lagoon. Basically this place is like any other wave park (but it's outside) where every once in a while they turn some waves on for about 20 minutes and people float around in it and it is fun. It is pretty cheap to go in as well ($5 dollars for half the day) so as you can imagine it was full of family and kids.

A look at those waves. After about 5 minutes I got bored of the waves and enjoyed them much more from this vantage point.

Debi and Scott liked the kiddie pool in the shade.

After a short while we headed back to the apartment to prepare for the evening festivities. Saturday night we were just having a few people over (none of us know that many people) on the rooftop patio for from craziness (#22 by the way).

There was music and food and drinks and fun and of course more cake.

#23 was a present from mom and dad which was the martini glass in my hand. So naturally #24 was martinis.

The cakes beautifully designed and decorated by Deb (baked my Scott). They were #29 on my list and they were both very very yummy. A chocolate martini and a strawberry margarita....perfect choices. Does Deb know me or what?

Yes, I did enjoy those cakes.....for a few days too. It was a lot of cake.

And then the night was over and eventually Sunday morning arrived and it looked a little like this:

Yes, it did feel as bad as it looks.

But on a positive note....Teddy and Croco seem to be getting along just fine.

And I know you all want to know what #30 was. Well it was Wisdom-Wisdom-Wisdom. I guess that just comes with age.

So a big thanks to every one who sent cards and emails and Facebook messages and phone calls for making my 30th birthday the best ever. And a special great big thanks to Debi and Scott for an amazing and perfect birthday weekend that will not soon be forgotten.

Julie